State's school districts to fingerprint employees

Massachusetts recently began fingerprinting teachers and other school employees, becoming the final state in the country to collect educators' fingerprints for national background checks.

Gerry Tuoti Wicked Local Newsbank Editor

Massachusetts recently began fingerprinting teachers and other school employees, becoming the final state in the country to collect educators’ fingerprints for national background checks.

The fingerprinting began last month in select school districts and is being expanded to include the entire state. Gov. Deval Patrick signed the new background checks into law last January, then signed follow-up legislation in September that made modifications to allow the FBI to begin processing submitted fingerprints.

“Of course, first and foremost, we want to ensure our students are getting to school safely and are in the safe hands of teachers and support staff who have direct and unmonitored contact with the children,” Department of Elementary and Secondary Education spokeswoman Lauren Greene said. “We think the vast majority of educators will be in the clear with this. We just want to have additional supports in place to make sure the student is being placed in a safe environment every single day.”

While there is a general consensus supporting the expanded background checks, some educators take issue with the $55 fingerprinting fee they’re required to pay.

“We don’t object to the fingerprinting. We were the 50th state to adopt that,” said Tom Gosnell, Massachusetts president of the American Federation of Teachers. “However, we are concerned about employees having to pay the fee, and we are submitting legislation for the employer to pay that fee.”

The state says the fee, which is common in other states, is necessary due to the cost of conducting the detailed background checks. School districts have an option of directly funding the cost, Greene said.

“We are aware of the concerns,” Greene said. “We’re not deaf to those, but this is a partnership between the Executive Office of Public Safety and our office as well as the Executive Office of Education. Early Education and Care also has requirement to do this fingerprinting as well. The FBI takes the fee from the fingerprinting.”

The law requires all public and private school employees, not just teachers, to submit fingerprints. The fee is $35 for most other school workers, including janitors, clerical workers, bus drivers and cafeteria workers. Early childhood educators and child care providers are also required to comply.

Before the new law was passed, Massachusetts required schools conduct CORI background checks on their employees. The CORI checks, though, do not include criminal history from other states. The new system will run the fingerprints through the FBI’s national database.

The fingerprinting is being introduced in phases, beginning with employees hired for the current school year. The state plans to have all employees fingerprinted by the beginning of the 2016-17 school year.

Partnering with vendor Morpho Trust USA, the state currently has five fingerprint centers — in Dorchester, Beverly, Brockton, Bourne and Pittsfield — with plans to eventually open approximately 30 across the state.

There are 20 school systems currently requiring fingerprinting of new hires. The state plans to review their experiences and may tweak the process before launching the initiative statewide.

Gerry Tuoti is the Regional Newsbank editor for GateHouse Media New England. Email him at gtuoti@tauntongazette.com or call him at 508-967-3137.

The following school systems are the first to fingerprint their new hires: